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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28222707">The Renovation</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MitsuyaScales_Of_LibranFrost/pseuds/MitsuyaScales_Of_LibranFrost'>MitsuyaScales_Of_LibranFrost</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Compilation of Final Fantasy VII</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Comedy, Deviates From Canon, F/M, Humor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:15:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>12,180</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28222707</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MitsuyaScales_Of_LibranFrost/pseuds/MitsuyaScales_Of_LibranFrost</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The general premise is that Sephiroth and Aerith are living in and remodeling the old Shinra Manor, at some point beyond the events of Part 1 of FFVII Remake. Not gonna lie, I didn't think about it too hard. If you're comfortable with a high degree of ambiguity and just want to see characters you like having fun and zany times, this is the story for you!</p><p>This fic originally started out as part of the AeriSeph Weekly Challenge started by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26064778/chapters/63391477">KyuubiPandoraChan</a>. I gave myself the extra challenge of making the 100-word stories connect to each other, so while I had a general idea for the overarching plot, I didn't know exactly where I would take things until I saw the new week's prompt. Soon enough, I started going over the 100 words. </p><p>I originally posted this to my WordPress blog Scales of Libra, but I'm combining some of the weekly entries into single chapters for smoother flow. The challenge of writing in just 100 words is fun for the author, but I imagine it can get a bit tiresome for the reader to have to keep so many short bits connected.</p><p>So, without further ado, the story!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aerith Gainsborough/Sephiroth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Fire Lane</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter combines the entries for Weeks 1 through 3. The words of the week were towel, palm, and crutch.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Aerith could understand wanting to find your roots. Though she had a constant connection to hers, there was still much she didn’t know. So she could understand hanging on to what precious few twisted beginnings could be unearthed.</p>
<p>But did they really have to move to the boonies to do it?</p>
<p><em>This is my birthright,</em> he’d said, smirking. Where in the Lifestream had he picked up this atrocious sense of humor?</p>
<p>“Hey, you know where my towel’s at?”</p>
<p>Aerith jumped, turning away from the mildewed wallpaper to find a glistening Sephiroth in the doorway with a sledgehammer over his shoulder.</p>
<p>“It’s on the piano,” Aerith said once her heart had regained its proper rhythm.</p>
<p>Sephiroth set the sledgehammer down to retrieve the misplaced towel, wiping away his thin film of dust and sweat.</p>
<p>“Did you finish with the carriage house?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, knocked out the walls.” He held up his hands to show fresh callouses on his palms. “The contractors will be able to start converting the structure to a greenhouse tomorrow. How about you? Regret taking on this project yet?”</p>
<p>“Oh, depapering is driving me positively insane. I might just set something on fire.”</p>
<p>“…We agreed arson jokes were off-limits.”</p>
<p>“Aww, c’mon, lighten up! Don’t use our rules as a crutch,” Aerith reached out to Sephiroth, smiling and gently guiding him away from the section of wall she had been working on. She didn’t want him to see the fire damage she had exposed. Shinra’s cover-up had been rather lazy here; since much of the mansion had remained intact, actually rebuilding had been unnecessary.</p>
<p>“Was that pun intended?”</p>
<p>“What p… Yes, yes it was. Anyway, have you thought about what you’re gonna rename this place?”</p>
<p>“Hmm…” Sephiroth crossed his arms, smiling pensively. “I think it should just have a number.”</p>
<p>“You mean like… 1234 Fire Lane?”</p>
<p>His lips twitched and his eyes narrowed. Slowly, he pulled the towel out from around his neck. It was like watching a snake getting ready to strike, albeit one which was also struggling to keep a straight face.</p>
<p>“What…did I…JUST say?!” He snapped the towel in her direction.</p>
<p>“A-yeeeeee!” Aerith burst out of the dining room at top speed, laughing as she sought to escape up the once-grand staircase.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks to KyuubiPandoraChan for this wonderful <a href="https://twitter.com/KyuubiPandora/status/1300426939170091009">illustration!</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Lace</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The word of the week was "Lace."</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The remodel proceeded slowly as they simultaneously scoured the mansion for clues to Sephiroth’s childhood. But the sexy lace front wig Aerith found in the vault revealed nothing.</p>
<p>Imagining herself a blond bombshell, she put it on.</p>
<p>“Hey, I’m gonna get lu–” Sephiroth stopped short in the doorway.</p>
<p>“So… Whaddya think?”</p>
<p>“Please take that off.”</p>
<p>“Huh? Why?”</p>
<p>“It just…reminds me of…”</p>
<p>“…Seriously?!” she grinned.</p>
<p>“The cap color doesn’t match your skin tone. It’s grotesque. Like Leatherface.”</p>
<p>“Wait, what? That’s the problem?”</p>
<p>“Here.” He tossed her a mastered Fire and walked away.</p>
<p>“…Hey! Why do you know so much about wigs?!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. KNIFE</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter combines the entries for Weeks 5 and 6. The words of the week were "bury" and "stare." CW for descriptions of mutilated plastic toys.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Sephiroth… Did you…do this?”</p><p>“I…I think I did.”</p><p>They knelt beside the small, shallow pit they had unearthed in the process of planting shrubs near the former carriage house, which was now a fine greenhouse. Aerith reached inside first.</p><p>“This one’s decapitated…” A pained look crossed her face.</p><p>Sephiroth reached in as well, scooping out a tangle of little green plastic soldiers in various states of dismemberment. Beneath the pile of dozens was an ornate silver pocket knife.</p><p>“But why did you bury them?”</p><p>He gave her a sideways glance at her choice of focus. “…I was trying to hide.”</p><p>"What do you mean?”</p><p>“I was hiding from what Shinra was trying to make me. I didn’t want to be their toy soldier.”</p><p>“Oh…” Aerith turned the mutilated infantryman over in her hand. “So…should we put them back?”</p><p>“No, it’s okay. Let’s throw them away properly.” Sephiroth moved to scoop the remaining toys out of their shallow grave, but suddenly froze, staring at the knife buried with them.</p><p>“What is it?”</p><p>“‘L.C.’…” Taking a breath, he reached in to retrieve the pocket knife, and showed it to Aerith. “Look, it’s monogrammed.”</p><p>“Who’s L.C.?”</p><p>“I think it’s my mother. Lucrecia Crescent.”</p><p>Aerith reached for Sephiroth’s free hand, and gave it a squeeze. “Maybe this is a sign. Maybe it’s time you went to see her.”</p><p>“No.” He threw the knife alone back in the hole.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Basement Rediscovery 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter combines the entries for Weeks 7 and 8. The words of the week were "Lips" and "Slip."</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Aerith knew unpleasant discoveries tended to send Sephiroth straight to the basement. What had been Hojo’s office was now a well-appointed man cave; he was probably holed up there, ruminating with knitted brows and beautiful lips pulled in an ugly line.</p>
<p>She had barely equipped herself with Leviathan when a loud crash echoed up the spiral staircase. Her heart started racing before she even broke into a run.</p>
<p>“Sephiroth!” She yelled breathlessly, “What happened?!”</p>
<p>“Sorry. There were beeps coming from the other side of this door. Since the key’s missing…”</p>
<p>“You kicked it in,” she sighed, relieved but mildly annoyed. They were supposed to be fixing the place up, not busting up what was intact.</p>
<p>“Alright,” she gathered her skirts, “let’s find out what those beeps were.”</p>
<p>“You stay back. We have no idea what’s in there.”</p>
<p>Aerith conjured an orb of light and walked past Sephiroth into the dark, musty room. He only grumbled behind her.</p>
<p>“It’s creepy as ever, but there’s nothing new here,” she declared after quickly surveying the crypt.</p>
<p>“Wait, you’ve been in this room before?”</p>
<p>
  <em>beep!</em>
</p>
<p>They both jumped at the incongruous sound that seemed to have come from the coffin in the center. Sephiroth shot Aerith a look. This time she complied and stayed back. He approached the coffin, slowly reaching out for the lid. With one final check to make sure Aerith was keeping her distance, he pushed it back.</p>
<p>In the dim light, Sephiroth could see what appeared to be a mummy. It was wrapped in a raggedy shroud from head to toe, but for some reason its face was exposed.</p>
<p>An angelic choir suddenly burst into song.</p>
<p>“Uh…did you cast something?”</p>
<p>“No,” Aerith came up behind Sephiroth and peeked around his arm.</p>
<p>“Oh! It’s Vincent!”</p>
<p>“You know this…person?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, he was here before.” She stepped forward and shone her light into the coffin. “Come on Vincent, the jig is up. What are you doing here?”</p>
<p>The mummy sighed. “Squatting.”</p>
<p>“Squatting?” Aerith asked. “Rent in Edge getting too high?”</p>
<p>“No, I…” Vincent sat up, looking away. “Racked up a 50,000 gil phone bill.”</p>
<p>Sephiroth scoffed. “How?”</p>
<p>“Texting your mother.”</p>
<p>Without thinking, Sephiroth punched Vincent in the jaw, sending him tumbling over the side of the coffin.</p>
<p>“Sorry. Old momma’s boy habits. I don’t even know her like that.”</p>
<p>“No, I’m sorry.” Vincent massaged his jaw. “Should’ve gotten the unlimited plan,” he added to himself.</p>
<p>After dusting himself off, Vincent pulled a slip of paper from the folds of his cloak, offering it to Sephiroth.</p>
<p>“…Coordinates?”</p>
<p>“Yes. You’ll find Lucrecia there.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Whip</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The word of the week was "Whip." CW for brief sadistic M/M imagery involving a bloody whip.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Is it really that bad?……Uh-huh… Yeah, but I’d have to borrow his laptop to get on…” Aerith bit her thumbnail. “Mmm, he’s upstairs getting ready to set out…”</p><p>The voice on the other end was persistent.</p><p>“Fine, but you better be right about this!” Trapping the antique-style receiver between her ear and shoulder, Aerith gingerly opened Sephiroth’s laptop and navigated as directed. She nearly dropped the phone as she read the screen. A gasp escaped her lips, followed by an embarrassed, confused giggle. She didn’t know how she should feel about this.</p><p>“Surfing the web? What a surprise.”</p><p>“Ack!” This time Aerith did drop the receiver, but she let it clatter to the floor as she slammed the laptop shut.</p><p>“Now what could you possibly have been looking at to warrant that reaction?” Sephiroth bent down to pick up the phone, keeping his eyes on her, smiling provocatively. The other end of the line clicked, so he placed the receiver back in its cradle.</p><p>“Yuffie needed some sisterly advice is all. She wanted me to look at something and tell her what I thought.”</p><p>“Oh?” He moved in, cupping her chin in his hand and gently tilting her head to meet his eyes in one smooth motion, whispering a hair’s breath from her lips in his silkiest voice, “Is that so?”</p><p>Her unnaturally steady gaze in the face of such an attempt gave her away. In the blink of an eye, he reached behind her to reclaim his laptop.</p><p>“Hey! You better not be thinking what I think you’re thinking!”</p><p>“Ahh, but what were <em>you</em> thinking my dear?” He opened the device, swinging it up and out of her reach as she tried to jump for it in vain.</p><p>“<em>‘The Lieutenant slid behind his General’s hips and trailed the bloody whip through his silver tresses…’</em> …Wow, Aerith, I didn’t know this is what did it for you. I am so sorry.”</p><p>“I-I… It’s not like that!” Her cheeks were as red as the tomatoes in her greenhouse, but Sephiroth was clearly enjoying himself.</p><p>“SOLDIER doesn’t use those ranks. I’m surprised Hojo let the Elitists carry on with that bit without ever saying anything,” he said as he kept scrolling. “And Genesis isn’t nearly flexible enough to do this, much less to me.”</p><p>“…You’re not upset about people writing stuff like this? I mean, out of respect for the dead at least…”</p><p>“It comes with the territory,” he waved her concerns away. “Of being famous, I mean. Besides, you know no one stays dead for long around here these days. I’m sure Gen will pop out of a mako fountain or something soon enough. Who knows, maybe he’s hanging out with my mother, since she talks to everyone but me.”</p><p>All Aerith could do was stare in disbelief.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Better Homes and Grottos</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This time the Weekly Word Challenge ran for two weeks with two words, "Chest" and "Tame."</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“My mother’s coming to visit,” Sephiroth said just barely stopping to kiss Aerith’s forehead, slightly hefting the jackhammer he was carrying out of the way before striding on. “I have to build a grotto.”</p>
<p>“Whoa whoa whoa,” she grabbed his wrist and stopped him in his tracks. “You come back after a whole week with no contact and that’s all you say?”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, forgive me.” He set the jackhammer down and recited in a sing-song voice, “Honey, I’m home.”</p>
<p>“That’s not what I meant and you know it. What happened with your mother?”</p>
<p>“She doesn’t feel comfortable inside buildings. We tried. It was bad.”</p>
<p>“Sephiroth, seriously.”</p>
<p>He shifted his weight on his feet and stared up at the old chandelier. “We worked things out. I forgive her. Mostly. Sort of. I want to give her the chance to make me forgive her. Or something. I mean, it's not like I'm really one to talk.” He exhaled deeply and brought his gaze back down to meet her questioning one. “Look, I talked to her like you said I should. So I want her near and she only likes caves now so I’m going to make a grotto for her.”</p>
<p>Aerith reached out and put both hands on his chest, looking up into his eyes. He was agitated. She decided not to push him any further.</p>
<p>“Fine. But one day, mister, one day…”</p>
<p>“Deal.” This time he stopped for a proper kiss, but he picked up the jackhammer and continued on with his mission soon enough.</p>
<p>Aerith sighed and decided to go tame the weeds choking out the abandoned property she’d acquired for her new flower shop. She didn’t want to be around for the massive racket Sephiroth would surely raise carving into the rock. Did he even know what he was doing?</p>
<p>“Oh well, it’s his house.” She shrugged to herself. If the manor caved in and they had to move, she wouldn’t mind. But if Lucrecia decided to move in? That could put a serious dent in her plans.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Deep Fake</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The word of the week was "Urge." CW for Rule 34, tentacles, and a reference to an infamous fanfic/fanart of Seph with a certain teddy bear...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Seph?” Aerith closed the front door behind her, eyeing the bubble mailer that had just been dropped off by the Strife Delivery Service. Sephiroth stopped short on the staircase, covered in dust and sweat from his work in the basement.</p><p>“Were you expecting something?”</p><p>“What? No.”</p><p>“Here. There’s no sender, but this is addressed to you.”</p><p>Sephiroth went back down to take the envelope. It was light and seemed to contain something plastic and rectangular.</p><p>“Hmph. Better open it outside, in case it’s rigged.”</p><p>In the yard, some distance from the manor, Sephiroth carefully cut open the padded envelope with the monogrammed pocketknife he’d gone back to dig out of the ground. He pulled the contents out and froze.</p><p><em>Tentacle Torture Paradise 3 starring Jenny Armstrong</em>, proclaimed the cover of the video.</p><p>The blank stare. The bangs that matched his own. The big purple nipple-less areola. There was no mistaking her. It was Mother.</p><p>A million questions flew through his mind. How was she still alive? Had he failed? Would there be another Reunion? How had she ended up doing this? What the hell were all those actors thinking letting her do that to them? Was THAT the Reunion? <em>Armstrong?</em></p><p>“No, no, calm down. Think. Don’t jump to conclusions this time,” Sephiroth tried to keep from retching while simultaneously fighting the urge to set things on fire.</p><p>“Sephiroth?” Aerith called out worriedly from just outside the front door. “What is it?”</p><p>“Nothing!” He jammed the video back into the envelope. No way he could let her see it.</p><p><em>Oh god, what if she’s into this too?</em> He hadn’t forgotten what he’d caught her reading the other day. He turned his head, trying to look at her without being too obvious, searching for an answer.</p><p>“Okay. That was clearly not nothing. I’m going over there!”</p><p>“No!” Sephiroth incinerated the offending material in his hands, then threw the smoldering remains to the ground. Aerith had run over to him by then, and gave him an exasperated look.</p><p>“Now I have to wonder what <em>you</em> were looking at…”</p><p>“Hey, I didn’t order that…that. Someone’s framing me. Or maybe it was just a dumb prank! Yeah, that must be it! A dumb prank. Some idiot with too much time on their hands and photo editing software.”</p><p>“What are you rambling about?”</p><p>“It was a video. But it was fake. A deep fake.”</p><p>“Of you?”</p><p>“Y-yes. Of me. Can we drop this please?”</p><p>“And what did they have you doing?”</p><p>“There was…there was a bear. A stuffed bear. Please, don’t make me relive seeing that.” Sephiroth reached out, pulling Aerith into a tight hug. After a few seconds’ hesitation, she returned it.</p><p>“What happened to Mr. Big Shot Celebrity? I thought that stuff didn’t bother you?”</p><p>“This is different. Who does that to a beloved childhood character? I’m traumatized.”</p><p>“You’re lying.”</p><p>He did his best to whimper but ended up laughing instead, and Aerith pushed him away, having called his bluff. But if he played his cards right, he could still distract her. He had to. Even if a new fight with Jenova was on the horizon, she didn’t need to find out about it like he did. And maybe it really had been a prank after all. Nothing to worry about.</p><p>Maybe.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Möbius Strip</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The word of the week was "Doll." CW for an allusion to major character death.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey, where have you been, you big jerk?” She’d planted a boot down heavily mere inches from his head, almost trampling the hair that fanned out around him.</p><p>“Are you talking to me?” He opened his eyes to find the furious flower girl glaring daggers down at him, fists on her hips.</p><p>“No, I’m giving pointers to Ifrit dancing a tango with Shiva over there. Who else would I be talking to? Do you know how long I waited for you on that altar? My legs fell asleep!”</p><p>“…Sorry?”</p><p>“What are you doing back here right now anyway?”</p><p>He let out a long breath and sat up. In a moment of exhausted carelessness, he closed his eyes again, rubbed his temples, then ran his bare hands through his hair, gathering it all and throwing it over his left shoulder. Somehow, the top of the Shinra Building made him look ridiculously pretty. A convenient breeze blew.</p><p>“I was trying to reprogram the robot cat moogles.”</p><p>“…Robot cat moogles?”</p><p>“You call them Cait Sith. I thought it would be easier than manipulating Cloud. It wasn’t. …Ugh, why am I telling you this?” He waved it away, then looked at Aerith as if seeing her for the first time. Remembering he should exude villainy, he put his gloves back on and stood up to tower over her. “But fear not, you’ll have your role to play yet.”</p><p>“…You don’t know what you’re doing anymore, do you?”</p><p>It took him a minute to come up with something sufficiently cryptic-sounding to say.</p><p>“…There is but one edge, and all returns to the starting point.” With that, he unfurled his wing with a snap, and made sure to create an excessively powerful gust of wind as he took off.</p><p><em>Damn her,</em> he’d thought.</p><p>***</p><p>Sephiroth chuckled at the memory. He was trying to keep himself grounded in the Good and Wholesome as he finished carving out his human mother’s grotto like the dutiful, perfectly normal son he was trying to be. He didn’t need to be thinking about the abomination he’d seen the other day.</p><p>Lost in reverie, he didn’t notice the changing sounds the strikes of his pick axe were making. When a mighty blow brought half the rock wall crumbling down before him, he barely had enough time to jump back out of the way.</p><p>“What the…?”</p><p>As the dust settled, he could see a wide open space with something small and pointy in the center. He approached slowly enough that he didn’t fall over what turned out to be the edge of a precipice. From that vantage point, he realized what he thought was something tiny was but the upper part of a massive rocket down below. The shiny metal reminded him of when he’d first seen the Jenova Doll, how he’d yanked it and thrown it aside to see his Mother and her big purple—</p><p>“Oh no no no no no no no this can’t be AEEERIIIITH!”</p><p>He ran back up the basement stairs so fast the old wooden planks fell away as he went. He didn’t even bother opening the front door, he just mentally blew it off its hinges and ran all the way to Aeirth’s flower shop in what was becoming the new center of town.</p><p>“Aerith! AERITH!”</p><p>“Sephiroth!? What’s going on? Why are you yelling? You’re scaring the customers!”</p><p>He grabbed her by the wrist and marched her out the back door despite her protests. Once in the backyard, he released his torrent of emotions all at once.</p><p>“I found a spaceship under the mansion and it was big and metallic and reminded me of Mother and all I could see where those tentacles and it was so horrible I thought I’d lose my mind again and I can’t—”</p><p>High-pressure water struck him in the face. When he opened his eyes, he found Aerith aiming a garden hose at him.</p><p>“Sorry Seph. I had to snap you out of it.”</p><p>“…No, thank you. I needed that.”</p><p>“Start from the beginning. What happened?”</p><p>“I was finishing up the grotto. For my mother. The human one I mean. But I discovered a natural cave down there. There’s a spaceship in a deep pit.”</p><p>“A spaceship?”</p><p>“Yeah, like the one in Rocket Town.”</p><p>Aerith sighed and muttered to herself as she turned to wind the hose back in its holder. “We’re never gonna flip that house at this rate…”</p><p>“…What did you say?”</p><p>“Oh, I said, ‘we’re never gonna fix that house at this rate.'”</p><p>“…I distinctly heard you say ‘flip,’ not ‘fix.'”</p><p>“…Flip, fix, same thing. You know, like ‘turn things around.’ Make it better. Come on, I’ll close up shop early. Let’s go figure out what that rocket’s doing in a cave under the basement.” She took his hand and smiled, but he couldn’t help but feel she was hiding something from him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Basement Rediscovery 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This chapter combines the entries for Weeks 13 &amp; 14 of the AeriSeph Weekly Challenge. The words of the week were "Queen" and "Rope."</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Sephiroth, as lovely as this is,” Aerith adjusted her grip around his neck as they floated down the shaft of the ruined spiral staircase, “You really have to stop causing more property damage than we’re fixing.”</p><p>“I know, I’m sorry. At least I didn’t break the front door.”</p><p>“Yes, you only ruined the frame when the hinges tore out of it.”</p><p>“That just proves the wood was rotting. It needed to be replaced anyway.”</p><p>She sighed as they reached the bottom, but Sephiroth didn’t put her down.</p><p>“I can walk now, you know.”</p><p>“We’re gonna have to fly down to where the rocket is. Or what, you don’t like being carried like a princess?”</p><p>“Hmm, I’d prefer to be carried like a queen.”</p><p>“Oh? Then I shall build you a palanquin, and only First Class SOLDIERS with 48-inch chests shall carry it.”</p><p>She let out a laugh that echoed up the stone walls. “Why 48 inches?”</p><p>“I read that a famous romance novel cover model’s chest was that big.”</p><p>“I see. And why were you looking for that information?”</p><p>“Remember that time I found you reading…a certain kind of material?”</p><p>“Yeah…”</p><p>“I may or may not have kept reading things in a similar vein. For research and the advancement of science only, of course.”</p><p>“Of course.” She snickered.</p><p>They reached the cavern with the rocket, and Sephiroth took them slowly around it as they descended once more.</p><p>“Wow…how in the world did this get down here?”</p><p>“I thought it might have crashed and been buried over the years, like Mother…but then it wouldn’t be upright in a clear space.”</p><p>“Crashed? Like from outer space?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>She shifted somewhat in his arms, but continued to scan the rocket for clues.</p><p>“Those squiggly markings on it kinda remind me of the flames on Barrett’s tattoo.”</p><p>Sephiroth gently set Aerith down once they reached the bottom of the cavern. He looked up at the rocket but didn’t move forward.</p><p>“Well,” she took his hand, “Do you sense anything from it?”</p><p>“No. Now that I stop to think about it, I don’t. Are you getting anything?”</p><p>“Nope. Nothing’s clicking here.”</p><p>“The design seems familiar though. Maybe Shinra found it under their manor and copied it?”</p><p>“Or…” Aerith tentatively stepped forward, stroking her chin. “How long has this manor been here?”</p><p>“I don’t know. The town records were lost when I…had a moment. Haven’t found anything in the mansion that points to its original builders, either. You think Shinra built their mansion over the crash site?”</p><p>“Maybe. Maybe Rufus’ great great great great grandfather found the rocket. Stole the alien technology to start the family empire and covered up his fraud with this house.”</p><p>“…Sounds about right.”</p><p>They walked around the rocket, examining it, until Sephiroth shifted his gaze upward and noticed what looked like a hatch some 10 feet from the ground.</p><p>“I think I found a way in. Be right back.” He flew up to the apparent opening and felt along the walls of the rocket. Sure enough, he activated something. The hatch made a hissing noise and slowly started rising, revealing the entryway.</p><p>“What did you do?” Aerith called up to him.</p><p>“I’m not sure. I’m gonna go in first, make sure it’s safe. Stay there.” He flew inside.</p><p>“I don’t need to wait for you to throw down your hair,” she retorted.</p><p>After a few seconds, Sephiroth peaked out from the hatch. “Did you really just make a <em>Rapunzel</em> reference at me?”</p><p>Aerith only smiled up at him as she cast a beam of light that propelled her up to the hatch. She stuck her hands out and Sephiroth caught her, pulling her inside the ship.</p><p>“Thanks, princess.”</p><p>“You’re welcome,” Sephiroth said as he turned around and tossed his hair, making sure it brushed Aerith’s face as he did so.</p><p>“I guess you liked the peony shampoo I made you.”</p><p>“It was alright,” he smirked.</p><p>They made their way deeper into the space ship, marveling at its strange markings and mysterious panels. Eventually they came to a room that had half a dozen bean-shaped pods. They were horizontally oriented, but they seemed familiar nonetheless. Sephiroth made a vaguely annoyed sound.</p><p>Aerith took a deep breath. “Still no weird vibes, right?”</p><p>“None that I recognize, but it’s definitely getting weird in here.”</p><p>They examined the pods, which turned out to be empty. As they came to the last one, they noticed that there was a seventh pod in the room, only much smaller than the others.</p><p>“A child?” Aerith ventured.</p><p>“No,” Sephiroth said as he peered into the glass. “A cat.”</p><p>“You’re kidding,” she said, but her eyes went wide when they landed on what was clearly a grey tabby. “Think it’s still alive?”</p><p>“Must be in stasis. And this is definitely looking more and more like the source of Shinra’s technology. A hack like Hojo couldn’t have come up with it all on his own.”</p><p>She snickered, but kept the conversation on track. “Think we should wake it?”</p><p>“What for?”</p><p>“I don’t know. I feel bad for it, down here all alone.”</p><p>“Maybe it doesn’t know it’s alone. It’s asleep.”</p><p>“Hmm…” Unconvinced, Aerith leaned in to examine the pod. She put her hand on the glass to get a closer look, but the touch of her hand seemed to activate something.</p><p>“Aerith, get back!” Sephiroth grabbed her and pulled her away from the pod. A brilliant sigil had appeared on the glass, spreading out from it in an intricate, radial design. The glass door lifted with a soft hiss, and the creature inside stirred. Sephiroth and Aerith stood back, holding their breath, waiting for something to happen. The sigil pulsed slowly.</p><p>Finally, the alien cat stretched its four legs, brushed at its face with its forearm, and tentatively opened one eye, then lifted its head to open the other as it seemed to notice the intruders. Slits surrounded by blue took the two of them in. The cat sat up. Sephiroth frowned.</p><p>“<em>Niakochilistli. Akan ka ompa?</em>”</p><p>“…Did you hear that?” Aerith whispered.</p><p>“Nyanko-something? Yeah. But I didn’t see the cat’s mouth open. Maybe it has telepathic powers?”</p><p>They kept their eyes focused on the cat, which seemed to squint lazily at something beyond them before sitting down into a loaf and yawning.</p><p>“<em>Mokuepa</em>…foolish mortals.” A gust of wind from behind pushed them down to the floor.</p><p>“Hey!” Aerith scrambled back to her feet to find Sephiroth already standing, Masamune at the ready, facing the source of the words and the wind.</p><p>“Mortal? I’m practically a god.”</p><p>The cat seemed to snort. Sephiroth gave it a dirty look from the corner of his eye.</p><p>The giant winged serpent hovering above them sneered. “Sssmart enough not to object to being called foolish, at least. Prepare yourselvesss!”</p><p>“Oh shit!” Aerith hastily called one of her staves to her. “Is that a summon?”</p><p>“Looks like it. Is that the Princess Guard? After such language, I would’ve expected the Nail Bat.”</p><p>“You’re bothered by ‘shit’ after the things I’ve said to you?”</p><p>Before he could reply, a tornado sent them flying to opposite ends of the room.</p><p>The serpent bound Sephiroth with a whirling wind that was as strong as the thickest rope, only to hold him until it could wind itself around the choking man in tight coils, flicking its forked tongue in his face. It completely ignored the magic projectiles Aerith was attacking with.</p><p>“You sssmell like…”</p><p>Sephiroth gave the serpent an exasperated look as he struggled to breathe, but the serpent just kept flicking its tongue at him.</p><p>“Ahhh, yessss, that old purple parasssite. What a nuisssance she w-”</p><p>A ray of light struck the serpent, strong enough to finally get its attention. The instant it loosened its grip on Sephiroth, he burst free and unleashed Octaslash on it. The serpent was barely able to escape by flying away.</p><p>“Purple parasite…don’t tell me you know Mothe—Jenova?”</p><p>“Jenova…Yesss,” it hissed, none too pleased by the turn of events. “She went by that name. I thought we killed her…”</p><p>“So did I,” Sephiroth wasn’t sure what to do anymore, but he remained in an attack stance as he looked back and forth between the serpent, Aerith, and the cat, which was now grooming itself with its back turned to the whole scene.</p><p>“Wait, Seph, you think she’s still alive?”</p><p>“I…have reason to believe she might be,” he shuddered.</p><p>“You sssay you killed her? Then you are her enemy, even though you are of her?”</p><p>“Yes,” Sephiroth replied, “And I’d like to be rid of her once and for all.”</p><p>“In that casssse, I will join you. I am Quetzalcoatl.”</p><p>“And I thought my name was a mouthful,” Sephiroth said as he finally lowered his sword. “I’m Sephiroth.”</p><p>“And I’m Aerith. Who’s the cat?”</p><p>“That’sss my pet, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. Not the real Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, of coursssse.”</p><p>“I feel rather silly now.”</p><p>“Say, Quetzalcoatl, is this rocket from your home? How did you end up here?”</p><p>“That…isss an embarrasssing sstory…”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I figured if My Bloody Valentine and the <em>One Thousand and One Nights</em> exist in the world of FFVII, then Fabio and <em>Rapunzel</em> can exist here as well. XD (In <em>On the Way to a Smile</em>, there was an allusion to Scheherazade telling stories to stay alive one more night. Or was it in “Picturing the Past”? I’ve read so many FFVII stories lately that I might be mixing them up. But the reference is definitely canon.)</p><p>The “carrying over the threshold” carry, which as far as I know doesn’t actually have a name in English, is called お姫抱っこ(ohime dakko, literally “princess carry”) in Japanese. This was not at all how I was initially planning on incorporating the week’s word into the story but then it just came to me.</p><p>I used this <a href="https://lingojam.com/Aztectranslator">“Aztec translator”</a> and this <a href="https://aulex.org/nah-es/">Spanish-Náhuatl dictionary</a> to translate Quetzalcoatl’s lines into Náhuatl, but I don’t know if this is accurate or not. The lines are supposed to be “I wake. Who is there?” and “Turn around.”</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Bad Dreams</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter combines the entries for weeks 15 and 16 of the AeriSeph Weekly Challenge. The words of the week were "Angel" and "School."</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Middle C bounced off the walls of the recently finished parlor for the hundredth time. The cat gave a low growl. Sephiroth ignored it as he sat with his legs crossed at the piano bench, right elbow on his left knee, chin cradled in his palm, left thumb idly striking C yet again. He was trying hard to grasp at the sensation of memories that floated through his mind at the sound. Something had happened here, in this room, at this piano. In his mind’s eye he could see blood on the keys. The piano tuner had seen it too, dying the wooden hammers and coating the metal strings. It had taken a significant bonus to get him to finish the tune-up after that.</p><p>“Can’t you play ssssomething elsssse?” Quetzalcoatl drawled from his terrarium, now in a far more mundane form. “Tlahuizcalpanthecutli isss going to ssscratch your eyesss out if you don’t ssstop that.”</p><p>Sephiroth sighed. Uncrossed his legs, sat up straight, put both hands on the keyboard, and started playing something he didn’t know he knew.</p><p>Aerith stood outside the doorway, listening. When she identified the melody, she clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. She hazarded a peak inside, happy to have removed the old wooden double doors early on in the renovation.</p><p>Sephiroth was sitting at the grand piano, which they’d moved to the semicircular area in the center of the room. He was concentrating so hard, one would think he was playing the most difficult piece ever. But he was playing a lullaby. Just as she was about to reveal herself, Sephiroth started the piece over, but it was different, more complex. Then he did the unthinkable.</p><p>He started singing.</p><p>
  <em>“Ah! Vous dirai-je Maman<br/>
Ce qui cause mon tourment?<br/>
Papa veut que je raisonne<br/>
Comme une grande personne<br/>
Moi je dis que les bonbons<br/>
Valent mieux que la raison.”</em>
</p><p>Just as suddenly as he’d started singing, he stopped, but kept playing variations on the theme. Aerith had sunk down to the floor, listening on in disbelief.</p><p>Another cycle of the same melody, but much sadder this time. She dared to sneak another peek into the room. Even the cat and the snake were watching him, unblinking. He didn’t seem to be aware of the three sets of eyes on him as he kept staring past his hands moving over the keys.</p><p>The unexpected recital lasted about twelve minutes. When he finished, Sephiroth put his hands on his thighs and sat there. Aerith stood up slowly, dusted herself off, and entered the room.</p><p>“Hey.”</p><p>He inhaled sharply, then turned around to look at her, blinking. “Hey,” he finally exhaled.</p><p>“So…you can play the piano?”</p><p>“If you can call this playing…” He furrowed his brows. “I think somebody got killed because of it.”</p><p>“Come on, it wasn’t that bad.”</p><p>“No, I’m serious. It’s…I…can’t exactly remember. I just…hear a jumble of piano sounds…then arguing. Finally a gunshot.”</p><p>“Oh…” Aerith sat down on the bench next to him and fingered the keys, striking one at random. “Wanna try meditation again?”</p><p>He made a noncommittal sound. “If my real mother had fought for me, I could just ask her, but…”</p><p>“Seph…”</p><p>“If she had…fought for me?” He started striking middle C again. Aerith let it go at first, but after the tenth time, she started to worry.</p><p>“What if you listened to some piano music? That might bring your memories back to the surface.”</p><p>“Wait, wait, it’s..it’s coming to me. They’re arguing.” He was pressing the key down harder now, rocking himself, eyes closed.</p><p>“…Who’s arguing?”</p><p>A few more C’s. “It’s…a woman. And Hojo.”</p><p>“…What are they saying?”</p><p>More C’s. “…’Get out. You’re fired.'”</p><p>“…Where are you?”</p><p>“Here.”</p><p>“Here? In this room?”</p><p>“Yes…No, I’m just outside the door, in the hallway. He told me to go to my room, but I disobeyed.” Finally he stopped hitting C.</p><p>Nobody breathed. Dust floated in the sunlight coming in through the two high windows at the far end of the room. When Sephiroth said no more, Aerith simply stroked his back.</p><p>That night, Sephiroth dreamt.</p><p>***</p><p>“But what does it mean?”</p><p>“Oh, it’s a song about a little boy who doesn’t want to study. His father wants him to think like a grown-up, but he just wants to eat candy.”</p><p>“…Why can’t he eat candy and think like a grown-up?”</p><p>The woman laughed. “You’re getting too smart for your own good, young master Sephiroth. But we will have to work on your voice. You have the face of an angel with the voice of an imp.”</p><p>“No, that will be enough singing for today. Sephiroth, go to your room.”</p><p>“But I sound like an imp! What’s an imp, Mademoiselle?”</p><p>“Do not make me repeat myself.”</p><p>Pouting, he slid off the bench slowly, until his feet reached the floor. But he didn’t go to his room. He walked down the hallway, then turned on his heels when he got to the foyer and slunk back, holding his breath as he pressed his ear to one of the doors.</p><p>“…filling the boy’s head with such gravel.”</p><p>“The lyrics annoyed you that much, Professor?”</p><p>“…What did you say?”</p><p>“I can use different songs.”</p><p>“Get out. You’re fired.”</p><p>“Who’s going to raise him?”</p><p>“Out, I said!”</p><p>“It’s not right, what you’re doing. He should have candy.”</p><p>“He knows his ABC’s. Next time he won’t sing with you.”</p><p>“I’m going to tell!”</p><p>BANG</p><p>He ran down the hallway then. Across the foyer, up the grand staircase, down the hall to the left, into the conservatory, then out into the forests of Wutai.</p><p>“‘…I offer thee this silent sacrifice.'” Genesis shut the book dramatically. Swept his bangs from his eyes before turning them on him. “So…what did you think?”</p><p>***</p><p>Sephiroth woke up with a jolt. He softly got out of bed, and let his feet take him where they would.</p><p>By the time the smell of brewing coffee reached him, he had unwittingly put half his hair from the shoulders down into tiny braids. He looked down at himself and signed. It had been years since he’d done something like that, as he just now remembered. He got up from the chair he’d been warming for the past four hours, stretched, yawned, inhaled the aromas from the plants nearby, and went downstairs. He imagined Aerith would laugh, but his hands were cramped from the marathon braiding session. He would put up with whatever jokes she had, he decided. Maybe even indulge her if she wanted to put little pink ribbons on the ends of each one.</p><p>“Good morning,” he said as he peeked into the kitchen.</p><p>“Morning Seph,” she turned away from the stove and gave him a little smile. “Bad dreams?”</p><p>“Sort of. Did I wake you?”</p><p>“No. You were gone when I woke up so I went to look for you. Found you in the conservatory spaced out, braiding your hair. I figured I should let you sort whatever it is you needed to.”</p><p>“Oh…” Not the reaction he’d been expecting. Though he really should know better by now.</p><p>“Anyway, this’ll be ready in a sec, so sit.”</p><p>“Right…” He pulled out a chair from the small nearby table and took in the scene. Morning light barely coming in through the tiny window, the kitchen overall being far smaller than one would expect for a mansion, the cramped space… It had hurt him a little once he realized Aerith probably didn’t want to live in the mansion long-term. But it was going to take a lot more work than he’d been planning on doing to “flip” the mansion—he’d made a mental note to look the term up after he’d calmed down from his Jenova scare—and he didn’t know if they would be able to do it.</p><p>Aerith set down a mug of coffee and a plate of scrambled eggs, salad, and toast in front of him, and sat down to eat herself. She was looking at him a little strangely, studying him, but didn’t say anything. They ate in a comfortable silence, but once he’d cleared the plates and she was pouring herself a second cup she brought it up, and he told her about his dream. The part before Genesis came in.</p><p>“So you had a governess? Wow, how fancy.”</p><p>“Yeah, but after that, there was—” Sephiroth caught himself. He didn’t want to bring up Aerith’s father, for several reasons. “There were just lab assistants that were assigned to me. They took care of the boring parts of raising a child that Hojo didn’t want to deal with. Yet…” he took a sip of coffee with a distant look in his eyes. “He still passed along the highlight reel to that inane club of his…”</p><p>He set his mug down harder than usual. The sound somehow made everything click in Aerith’s head. Ever since she saw Sephiroth with all those braids in his hair, something had been trying to wrench itself free from the back of her mind. Now she could hear it. The sounds of someone running, feet stomping after, angry yelling echoing down steel halls.</p><p>“It was you…” She finally said, looking him in the eyes. “You’re the White Malboro…”</p><p>“…That’s a new one.”</p><p>“I mean…did you use to do that to your hair? Like when you were little?”</p><p>“…Yeah, but only if I was bored, or nervous. Why?”</p><p>“Once, in the Shinra labs, I saw this…well, I didn’t know what I was seeing. It was like a person, but had this crazy tangle of white around its head and on its back, with scary eyes like a snake, and it looked really angry—”</p><p>“And this is me you’re talking about?” he interrupted.</p><p>“Oh, sorry, it’s just, like I said, I didn’t understand what I was seeing. Eventually I just thought a monster had gotten loose…”</p><p>Sephiroth snorted. “Gee, thanks. You weren’t wrong, I suppose. But…” He tried to remember running around the Shinra Building with his hair braided. That seemed strange, because he only ever did it in private. Half the time, he didn’t realize he was even doing it, it was like a nervous tic. He was vaguely aware of Aerith saying something else, but he was deep in his mind again. After several minutes, it finally came to him.</p><p>“Ohhhh! Now I remember. Those weren’t braids. It was macrame.”</p><p>Aerith spit out the sip of coffee she’d just taken. Sephiroth got up to get a dishrag without missing a beat.</p><p>“You mean, you got some macrame and put it on…like a wig?”</p><p>“No,” he finished wiping the table down and took the mug out of Aerith’s hand as a precaution, setting it barely within reach. “I mean, I did macrame with my hair. I was <em>really</em> bored.”</p><p>Aerith stared at him. “And this was just…something you knew how to do?”</p><p>“It’s something I taught myself to do. I didn’t have any friends, so I read a lot on my own, and tried out everything I learned from books and TV and whatever.”</p><p>“Wow…so you found a macrame book?”</p><p>“Must have. Or maybe it was crafts in general. I made a bunch of friendship bracelets once. But when I realized I didn’t have anyone to give them to, I set them on fire. Then they took the yarn away.”</p><p>“Seph, that’s awful…”</p><p>“That’s why I used my hair that time. But when Hojo went to get me for something or other, he got so mad. Threatened to shave my head. So I ran away. Well, as far as you can run away in the science department. That man really had no appreciation for the arts. Much as some of them are aggravating,” he added as Genesis floated into his mind again. “Anyway…I guess that means we’ve known each other a lot longer than we knew? Or you knew me at least.”</p><p>Aerith laughed. “I kinda can’t believe I just now put it together though.”</p><p>“I wonder if I ever saw you in the Shinra Building?”</p><p>“Mm, well, they kept me busy with a playmate at first, so I was in my room most of the time. And I did get sent to school for a little bit…” The thought brought one of her own childhood memories to mind, but she didn’t want to think about it. “Did you ever go to school?”</p><p>“I don’t think so, but…maybe I just haven’t remembered that yet.”</p><p>“Hmm…” Aerith kept humming pensively as she got up to put her mug in the sink. Sephiroth followed to wash everything up, wondering if he should ask what the look that had crossed her face briefly a second ago was about.</p><p>That evening, Sephiroth found Aerith in the conservatory, laughing in a way he’d never heard before. She was downright cackling, hunched over her drawing board. He was simultaneously curious and scared to look.</p><p>Some things are better left a mystery, he decided as he turned to go take a shower.</p><p>***</p><p>
  
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <strong>~ Bonus! ~</strong>
</p><p>"So what else did you teach yourself to do while you were all by your lonesome?” Aerith teased.</p><p>“Guess.”</p><p>“Mmm…chess?”</p><p>“That was part of my regular training.”</p><p>“Touch typing?”</p><p>“Ninety words a minute. On a keyboard, that is.”</p><p>“Crochet?”</p><p>“No. I couldn’t have small pointy objects.”</p><p>“Painting?”</p><p>“My little trees never came out happy.”</p><p>“Card counting?”</p><p>“I’m blacklisted at the Gold Saucer.”</p><p>“Calligraphy?”</p><p>“With a brush, yes. No metal nibs. You know.”</p><p>“Yes, too stabby. Mmm…make up?”</p><p>“The assistant who put me in some got killed, so no.”</p><p>“Cooking? No, never mind, I remember why I took that over. Computer hacking?”</p><p>“Mm, I tried, but I think they were on to me. Didn’t get very far.”</p><p>“How far did you get?”</p><p>“That’s not the game we’re playing right now. You can only ask me whether I have certain skills or not.”</p><p>“Oh, so this is a game now?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“How convenient for you.”</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>“Okay…did you know how to join the Silver Elite?”</p><p>“…You’re a tricksy one, aren’t you?”</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The repeating note bit was inspired by the opening minute of “Runaway” by Kanye West, which features an E played 15 times before adding a few more notes. You can see it from around 13:35 of the “Runaway” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg5wkZ-dJXA">music video/film</a>. The chorus is fitting as a Sephiroth to Hojo line. (But only the chorus, as I can’t really see Seph sending the kinds of photographs Kanye mentions sending to girls, among other things. Ahaha…)</p><p>I was going to say Sephiroth was playing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” or one of the other songs that uses that melody, but when I looked up what the original melody was and saw “Ah! Vous dirai-je maman” I knew I had to go with that. My French is a bit rusty but there was no mistaking the “maman.” The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ah!_vous_dirai-je,_maman">rest of the lyrics</a> also just seem hilariously appropriate for Seph (save that we’ve never been told whether or not he likes sweets). So, in my mind he’s playing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lcmmc-_bfGo">Mozart’s variations</a> on that melody, or trying to anyway. Considering the OG soundtrack included Bach, I think it’s particularly fitting.</p><p>Ah, I almost forgot one more musical shout out: “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EefEs1rxVEQ">Blood on the Keys</a>” is a track from Star Ocean 4. I love Sakuraba’s track titles.</p><p>I probably will never explain this explicitly in the course of this story, but my understanding from the Nibelheim flashback in OG FFVII is that Sephiroth spent at least some of his early life in Nibelheim, because when he was looking out the window of the inn he said the scenery seemed familiar. For him to have even vague recollections as an adult—unless you assume Jenova cells greatly accelerate human cognitive development—he had to have been there until at least 2-4 years of age. I’m imagining him here as 5 or 6.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Excuses</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is the entry for Week 17 of the <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26064778/chapters/63391477">AeriSeph Weekly Challenge</a>. The word of the week is "Beer."</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The call from Nibelheim had been placed at an unusual time so Cid would miss it, which was fine by him. He had hoped he would never have to speak to that snake-eyed bastard ever again. If he did, he thought it would be as part of a rescue operation, to get Aerith out of his clutches. But she apparently was still out of her goddamned mind, far as Cid was concerned.</p><p>
  <em>“Highwind. There’s a rocket beneath our—beneath the old Shinra Manor. Would you like to check it out? The WRO could probably help you do something with it.”</em>
</p><p>Cid drained his bottle of beer in one breath. If Shera had shattered his dream of going into outer space, Sephiroth had pulverized the remaining shards and blown their dust into his face. It was bad enough he’d summoned Meteor, but then he’d just had to take the precious No. 26 rocket, load his freaky alien mother onto it, and send it on a suicide mission sandwiched between Meteor and Holy with one of Reeve’s ridiculous robots at the helm. The explosion high in the atmosphere had sent shock waves across the planet. Sephiroth’s reign of confusing terror ended with that, but so did Cid’s dream, for good this time. The mako reactors were gradually shut down as new sources of power were sought out. No one was thinking about going to outer space when outer space had already come to them and the everyday conveniences they’d taken for granted were being taken away.</p><p>Then again, in the intervening years, things had started to stabilize. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to hope people were ready to make a run for the stars again.</p><p>Cid got up to look for a stronger drink as he mulled over when he should place his return call.</p><p>***</p><p>“Aren’t you gonna get that?” Aerith asked as Sephiroth’s phone vibrated across the kitchen table.</p><p>“No. It’s Highwind. We don’t talk.”</p><p>“Yet you have each other’s phone numbers.”</p><p>“We don’t <em>converse</em>.”</p><p>“…Well alrighty then,” Aerith shrugged as she stood to clear their dinner plates. Sephiroth moved to help, but she lightly smacked his hand away.</p><p>“So, what do you think of my proposal?”</p><p>“Going to Costa del Sol for my birthday? I like it. I don’t know about having people in here while we’re gone though.”</p><p>“It’ll just be Highwind and whatever colleagues he brings. Maybe someone from the WRO. It’ll hardly be different from having contractors around. They can get the rocket out, then the basement and grotto will be clear for Mom.”</p><p>“‘Mom’?!” A plate slipped out of her hands and clattered into the sink.</p><p>“Yeah, Mom. As in, my mother? But not the alien?”</p><p>“When did she go from being merely tolerated to being ‘Mom’?”</p><p>“When I realized how silly it was for <em>me</em> to be so self-righteous.”</p><p>Aerith snorted. “Well, I’m glad you’ve come to realize you were.”</p><p>“I don’t mean the whole ‘I am a GOD’ business, you know. l mean, in my lives, I set my birthplace on fire—”</p><p>“Did you know it was your birthplace?”</p><p>“I found out when I read the notes in the basement. That really disappointed me, at the time. Anyway, I nearly killed a little cowgirl, decapitated the being I thought was the mother I’d always wanted, told my best friend to go rot, impaled a runt of a teenage trooper, slaughtered a bunch of office workers—”</p><p>“President Shinra had it coming,” Aerith added as if in slight protest as she scrubbed a pot.</p><p>“Yeah, but not the regular employees. Some of them were just sending faxes.” Sephiroth looked down at his fingers to check his count before continuing. “I impaled a giant snake on a tree for the hell of it, mentally manipulated a bunch of people, murdered you in cold blood—”</p><p>“That was Jenova.”</p><p>“With me in the driver’s seat. I subverted her will to my own. Anyway, point is, child abandonment hardly compares. It’s downright pedestrian.”</p><p>Aerith grumbled as she finished with the dishes. A great part of her forgiveness for what he had done came from understanding what his parents—and her own father—had done to him, and the belief that Jenova’s will had been at least as strong as his. The Calamity was the entity that had overpowered her people, after all. The fact he hadn’t killed her this time around also helped. In any case, Aerith couldn’t help but wonder if his sudden zeal for personal responsibility would go too far. Would he decide he didn’t deserve to live, and run away to take his real mother’s place in her cave?</p><p>She let out a deep breath as she turned around to face him again, drying her hands on a dish towel.</p><p>“Okay, so is your father ‘Dad’ now?”</p><p>“No. Hojo can choke on mako and die. Well, if he weren’t already dead. I smashed the hard drives he was hiding in to smithereens myself.” Sephiroth got up and stretched. “Add ‘virtual patricide’ to my list.”</p><p>“…I want to laugh at that because it’s Hojo, but also feel like I shouldn’t because it’s generally wrong.”</p><p>“Hey, I said it. Laugh away.” He walked over to take her hands in his, and lightly kissed her knuckles. “Well…maybe there’s something we can learn from Hojo after all.”</p><p>“How not to be a horrible parent?”</p><p>“God no, I’ve had enough of little rugrats. I was going to say ‘how to properly prepare for a beach vacation.’ Make sure you pack sunscreen. Frowning and cackling alone didn’t turn Hojo’s face into the beaten leather rag it was.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Guess I’m gonna have to retcon why Seph freaked out when he first found the rocket under the mansion. (^o^;) This is what happens when you write stories half-blind. Ahaha…</p><p>February 7th is Aerith’s birthday, but in this story it’s not that day yet, because I hadn’t originally planned to make that the reason they go to Costa del Sol. Not gonna lie I don’t have any FFVII character’s birthday memorized save for Vincent’s, which I can remember because October 13th fits his character easily. But Twitter informed me it’s Aerith’s birthday so why not throw it in? (^o^)</p><p>Also, I’d originally said this takes place at some point after FFVIIR to take advantage of the time travel f*ckery. But there are also some elements from the Compilation I wanted in, so I guess the timeline is now “A time after FFVIIR Part 1 in which things play out in such a way that Sephiroth still causes great damage to the planet, Shinra (or Rufus rather) repents, the WRO exists, and somewhere Genesis is doing something for no reason other than that he is GACKT.”</p><p>Much as I didn’t like Gen’s addition to the reactor scene in <em>Crisis Core</em> and hope it gets re-retconned out in Remake, I love changing Seph’s line “You will rot” to “Go rot.” It’s just funny that way and helps me live with the scene.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. The Prelude (Salsa Version)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I've been wanting to wrap up this story for a while now, and since I had some time recently, I sat down to do so.</p><p>Unlike the previous entries, which were based on the word of the week for the AeriSeph Weekly Challenge, this time I just wrote everything I needed to in order to tie up loose ends. But, I did make sure to add an old friend from the first week. </p><p>Do <em>you</em> know where your towel's at?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Did we really have to bring Quetzalcoatl and Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli along?” Aerith asked. “The clerk was giving us the strangest looks.”</p><p>“They insisted on coming,” Sephiroth answered plainly.</p><p>“We’re right here, you know.” Quetzalcoatl hissed. Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli made a generally displeased cat sound, but the chime of the elevator bell as it arrived on the top floor of the hotel was louder.</p><p>“This is us,” Sephiroth announced as he stood in front of the elevator door, which opened to a small lobby with two pairs of armchairs to either side of massive double doors. Aerith ran ahead and swiped her key card to open them, revealing the penthouse suite inside.</p><p>“Woooow! It’s so luxurious!” Aerith stared at everything breathless, going toward the French doors on the opposite end. “Look at this view!”</p><p>Sephiroth set Quetzalcoatl and Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli down, their carriers magically disappearing. Quetzalcoatl transformed into a small version of his winged serpent form, and stretched his wings before flying around the apartment for a bit. Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli went off to explore the new locale.</p><p>“So,” Sephiroth said as he joined Aerith on the balcony, “What do you want to do first?”</p><p>“Mmm, let’s go for a swim! I can’t wait to see you in the swim trunks I bought you!”</p><p>***</p><p><em>Guess she wanted to leave something to the imagination…</em> Sephiroth thought to himself as he donned the tight-fitting swim bottom whose legs barely went past the crotch. She had included a colorful short-sleeve button-up shirt with a Cactuar pattern and a large beach towel with matching print, presumably to cover up with on the way from the hotel to the beach. He put the shirt on but left it open, and tied the towel around his waist.</p><p>“It fits you even better than I thought it would!” Aerith clapped her hands together as he stepped out from the bedroom. She had changed into her swimsuit first, but the off-white wrap she donned covered it up completely; it was practically a dress in its own right.</p><p>“Shall we go then?”</p><p>“Yes, we shall!” Aerith took his hand and they headed down, leaving their “pets” to their own devices.</p><p>Though not everyone in the world knew all the things Sephiroth had done after his sudden disappearance, most people knew who he had been before. He would have turned heads no matter what, but the Cactuar print made people doubt what they were seeing. Surely Sephiroth, Shinra’s elite SOLDIER, wouldn’t be walking around dressed like that.</p><p>Besides the generally confused looks, there was one old lady glaring at him. Sephiroth gave her a confused look of his own, but Aerith didn’t notice the exchange. She was humming along happily.</p><p>“This is sooo much better than spending my birthday in Nibelheim! Er—” Aerith stopped swinging their hands between them and stopped.</p><p>“Hm…? Oh, no offense taken. I should’ve known better than to take you to such a cold place.”</p><p>“Does that mean…?”</p><p>“No lo puedo creer!” A voice suddenly shouted a few feet from them. “Eres tú! Cinico! Maldito! Hijo de madre!”</p><p>“Um…I’m sorry,” Aerith took in the indignant old woman. “We don’t understand…”</p><p>The woman paid her no mind, focusing solely on Sephiroth, who realized, to his surprise, that he actually did understand.</p><p>“Vete de aquí! Malvado!” The old woman took her flip-flops off and threw them at him one after the other. Sephiroth blocked the first one, but the second one whooshed through his high bangs. The old woman threw her hands up and with one final insult, stormed off as quickly as her bones could carry her.</p><p>“H-hey, wait!” Aerith bent down to pick up the flip-flops. “You forgot your sandals!”</p><p>“Let her go,” Sephiroth grabbed Aerith’s wrist. “Nothing we say is gonna make things better.”</p><p>“Do you know what that was about?”</p><p>“Sort of? It kinda hit me when those did,” he pointed at the flip-flops. “I think I may have committed some faux pas in this town.”</p><p>“A ‘faux pas’? That something you learned from that fancy governess of yours?”</p><p>“Probably. Anyway, let’s just leave those here. Maybe she’ll come back for them.”</p><p>They continued ahead on their way to the beach. A cordon and sign blocked off a span of beach to the left. There was a film crew about a quarter mile down. Some people were sitting under a tent checking monitors, while the cameras focused on a group of actors beneath a large beach umbrella.</p><p>“Guess we can’t go that way.”</p><p>“Well, there’s still plenty of beach left for us over here,” Aerith gestured to the opposite side.</p><p>As they were turning to pick a spot on the sand, a young man with a messenger bag nearly bowled them over. Sephiroth and Aerith watched as he ran past the cordon, flashed what must have been an ID badge at the security guard standing there, and approached the tent. The messenger handed an envelope to a man at the monitors. He ripped it open, looked over its contents, and jumped out of his seat, yelling something. A bell rang. All the actors save one cleared the set.</p><p>“Hey look, that girl has hair like yours…” Aerith started walking toward the cordoned-off area, but Sephiroth froze.</p><p>The man who appeared to be the director was yelling at the lone actress. She was gesturing wildly, but eventually stormed off toward a group of trailers.</p><p>“Se…Seph, I think…”</p><p>“Yeah, I see it. That’s…Jenova…”</p><p>“What should we do?”</p><p>“We might put the town in danger if we confront her here. Let’s follow her, from a distance. With luck, she hasn’t sensed me here yet.” He turned to look at Aerith, but found he couldn’t bare to. “Aerith…I’m so sorry I ruined your birthday.”</p><p>“What? You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s… it’s her fault.”</p><p>Sephiroth merely signed. How was this even happening?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. To Here Knows When</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Content Warming for this chapter: As you might expect from the previous chapter, this is the final battle. If you're comfortable with the level of violence and innuendos in FFVII itself, then you should be comfortable with this chapter's contents. As this isn't representative of the whole story I've opted to put this warning here rather than in the tags.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jenny Armstrong was fuming. How dare they kick her off the movie? This was supposed to be her big break! She wouldn’t have to do those horrible tentacle films anymore. She would do normal movies, without having to transform into creepy monsters. Who cared if she had possibly spread a disease to a few cast members? It was nothing a little penicillin wouldn’t cure. And so what she’d had a few accidents on set, stumbling into things, knocking cameras over? She was just a little tired was all. She was shooting four other films at the same time, after all.</p>
<p>Through her anger, she could feel a pair of eyes watching her as she walked aimlessly through the streets of Costa del Sol. She’d left the touristy center a good half an hour ago and realized she didn’t quite know where she was anymore. She clutched her purse and scanned her surroundings, but found nothing. There were only a few houses nearby, spaced far apart, and nothing but orange groves further ahead. She could smell them from where she was. The scent was nauseating. She felt a little dizzy, and turned around to find a sword pointed at her.</p>
<p>“How did you get back here?” the man holding the sword asked through clenched teeth. Jenny’s eyes went wide. He seemed so familiar. He made something deep in her bones sing with joy. Yet she was utterly confused by the Cactuar shirt and matching towel wrapped around his waist.</p>
<p>“Wh-who are you?” her voice shook with hope and fear.</p>
<p>“Don’t play dumb,” a girl with long brown hair stepped forward. Jenny hissed at her before she even knew what she was doing.</p>
<p>“What is this?” Jenny growled, looking between the two attackers. “What do you want from me?”</p>
<p>“I asked, how did you get back here?”</p>
<p>“I got lost.”</p>
<p>“You know that’s not what I meant,” the silver-haired one turned the sharp edge of the blade to her throat. There was something familiar, frightening, and exhilarating about the steel’s touch.</p>
<p>“You’re just like me…” Jenny managed to say between breaths. “Who are we?”</p>
<p>Sephiroth and Aerith stared.</p>
<p>“I feel like I know you,” Jenny stepped forward, not caring that the sword cut into her flesh ever so slightly. “I feel like you’re a part of me…”</p>
<p>“I will cut you down right here if you come any closer.”</p>
<p>Jenny stopped. She stared into the man’s eyes with deep longing even though they were narrowed at her with obvious hatred. She felt a drop of blood trickle down her neck.</p>
<p>“Sephiroth, let’s end this. It doesn’t matter how she got back, does it? As long as we destroy her now.”</p>
<p>“Sephiroth…” Jenny breathed reverentially. In the next breath, she thrust her hands up into Sephiroth’s hair, clutching his head and staring into his eyes even as the Masamune dug into her neck. Sephiroth found he couldn’t move as images flooded his mind. A headache pounded in his ears along with Aerith’s indistinct yelling. Suddenly, he was thrown into the air and slammed into an orange tree, its fruit falling all around him.</p>
<p>“MOVE!”</p>
<p>Sephiroth got half his bearings and rolled out of the way as a blinding light crackled past him, splitting the tree in half and apparently hitting the creature as well. A tentacle landed a few inches from where he was and he threw up at the sight of it.</p>
<p>“Seph! Are you alright?!” Aerith hurried to cast Esuna, but what was making Sephiroth sick to his stomach couldn’t be healed that way.</p>
<p>“I…I’m fine…” He got up on one knee. “What…was that?”</p>
<p>“A little teamwork,” she pointed up and Sephiroth lifted his gaze to find the great winged serpent Quetzalcoatl in an attack posture. Aerith must have summoned him.</p>
<p>Jenny gurgled as thick, dark blood came up from her lungs. She was starting to turn purple, her human arms and legs replaced by writhing tentacles. She stared straight ahead, gasping for breath. Aerith offered Sephiroth a hand and he took it, slightly losing his balance for a second as he stood back up. He pushed something down inside himself and stalked toward the creature, his sword fixing on the intact half of her neck.</p>
<p>“I understand now,” he told her. “But that doesn’t mean I can let you live. You’ll just keep spreading trouble wherever you go whether you mean to or not.”</p>
<p>Jenny’s eyes rolled to the side, trying to focus on the source of the voice whose tone pulled her like a magnet. She had some vague idea what he was talking about. But between the pure white magic still burning her from the inside out and the general fog that had invaded her head a few months ago, she could barely think.</p>
<p>“Se…phiroth…” was all she could croak. She reached a tentacle up towards him, but the Masamune sliced the offending appendage clear off and doubled back to sever her head in one smooth motion. The head flew a few feet back, but still wheezed and smiled weakly at him at it rolled past an orange.</p>
<p>“Don’t tell me she’s still not dead?” Aerith asked as she walked up behind Sephiroth.</p>
<p>“The cells can function independently of the body. We’re gonna need to do something a lot more…obliterating.”</p>
<p>“In that case, I have an idea, but it’s gonna hurt.”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry about me,” he answered. “Do it.”</p>
<p>Aerith looked up to Quetzalcoatl, who understood her request without her having to speak it. He soared high into the sky, summoning a dark, whirling storm around him. The poor trees bent in the raging winds, dropping their fruits. When the rain began to fall, lightning bolts crashed down from the sky, homing in on the bits of Jenova. Aerith added her own rain to the mix, and the creature began to sizzle and smoke. The Jenova cells in Sephiroth’s body reacted to the rain as well, but he clenched his teeth and tried to ignore the burning sensation ripping through him. Another well-directed lightning strike set the creature’s body parts ablaze, releasing a putrid stench into the air.</p>
<p>When all that remained were indistinguishable, charred lumps, Sephiroth commanded the earth to split open, dropping the Jenova remains into a pit before sending fireballs after them. His flames and the rain together burned the remains down to a fine, powdered ash.</p>
<p>Aerith commanded Quetzalcoatl to clear the sky, and the clouds lifted. Quetzalcoatl surveyed the scene below before disappearing into the sky himself. The rain died down, but Sephiroth kept casting fire into the pit as if in a trance.</p>
<p>“Sephiroth, it’s over.” Aerith walked over to stand beside him at the pit’s edge, picking his Cactuar towel up along the way. She hadn’t even noticed when it fell off, and took a moment to appreciate the view before calling to him again.</p>
<p>When he didn’t respond, Aerith summoned the tiniest cloud of Healing Rain to fall directly over his head. The directed sting of its drops finally brought him to.</p>
<p>“We did it, Seph. It’s over.” Aerith reassured him, reaching up to move his soaked bangs away from his face, and offering him the towel.</p>
<p>“…I don’t know if it can ever be over,” he finally turned to look at her, and accepted the towel. “She’s the proof.”</p>
<p>“What do you mean?”</p>
<p>“You remember when I asked you to call a Healing Rain after Meteorfall?”</p>
<p>“Yeah…?”</p>
<p>“The rain didn’t get every last bit of Jenova cells in the world. There were still some around, in the bodies of my clones and SOLDIERs who hadn’t died yet, in unused samples in Deepground… All of those little clumps of cells eventually started moving to come together.”</p>
<p>“Oh…the Reunion Theory…” Aerith shuddered.</p>
<p>“Exactly. Eventually they came together and made…her. ‘Jenny Armstrong.’ She really didn’t know what she was, not exactly. I understood when she touched me.”</p>
<p>“Wow…”</p>
<p>“She was sick though. Who’d a thought it? Jenova, nearly crippled by a common enough bacteria…” Sephiroth frowned at the memory of what he’d learned in his brief moment of contact with Jenova’s remnant.</p>
<p>“What did she have?”</p>
<p>“It’s…not suited for polite conversation.”</p>
<p>“So gonorrhea then,” Aerith said, putting a finger up and smiling.</p>
<p>“…Syphilis, since you insist.”</p>
<p>“Glad to hear you’re feeling better!” She laughed.</p>
<p>Sephiroth didn’t.</p>
<p>“Um…you’re not serious, are you? Because I was joking,” Aerith fidgeted with some of his hair as she searched Sephiroth’s eyes. He only frowned harder.</p>
<p>“Oh… Oh god…”</p>
<p>“…Now you have to suffer that knowledge with me.”</p>
<p>“Urk…however in the world did she get that?”</p>
<p>“Remember that package I got at the mansion a while ago? The one with no return address? It was one of her…films.”</p>
<p>Aerith cocked her head to the side. “She was…an actress? I haven’t seen her in any movies.”</p>
<p>“Because you get your fix from fan fiction.”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Never mind. The point is, she got it from somewhere and it made things a lot easier for us.”</p>
<p>“Hmm… Yeah, I guess...”</p>
<p>“Anyway,” Sephiroth cleared his throat and tried to shake his unease away. “Let’s clean up what we can of this mess.”</p>
<p>While Sephiroth telekinetically gathered the fallen oranges into a pile, Aerith commanded the pit in the earth to seal itself shut. They had paid no mind to the distant houses during the battle, but they could now see curtains moving ever so slightly, the people staying hidden inside.</p>
<p>“Hey Seph, think we should apologize to whoever owns this grove?”</p>
<p>“…How would we know who that is?”</p>
<p>“We could ask around. I feel kinda bad about killing one of their trees.”</p>
<p>“There could have been far more casualties.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but they won’t know that.”</p>
<p>Sephiroth considered it. She had a point, but something started to nag at him in the back of his mind. “I don’t know…I think it’d be best to just leave.”</p>
<p>“Come on…there aren’t that many houses around. And look, there’s a path through the trees right there. Maybe if we follow it, we’ll get to whoever owns this grove.”</p>
<p>Sephiroth didn’t budge.</p>
<p>“Look, I’m gonna go alone if I have to,” Aerith said sternly.</p>
<p>“Fine, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Sephiroth almost pouted, but he joined Aerith near the path.</p>
<p>They walked on in silence for about fifteen minutes, watching their long shadows cross those of the trees. Finally, a huge house came into view.</p>
<p>“A mansion? They must be the grove’s owners, all right,” Aerith said, relieved not to have to go much further.</p>
<p>Sephiroth looked up at the white-walled mansion with its orange tile roof and it clicked.</p>
<p>“Oh no, not again…”</p>
<p>“What is it?”</p>
<p>“We should turn back. Now.”</p>
<p>“…What’s going on, Seph?”</p>
<p>“We would only be disturbing these people. We should head back now. I can fly us back, even. We’d be back in time for dinner.”</p>
<p>“…That old lady lives there, doesn’t she?”</p>
<p>“Come on, Aerith, it’s your birthday. I ordered a really special dinner for you. Or we could go for that swim we were supposed to have this afternoon. Don’t you want to see me in my swim trunks? All wet, everything clinging to me?”</p>
<p>“Oh, I’ve already gotten quite the view of that,” she smirked. Sephiroth looked down at himself and groaned. He’d been so focused on fighting Jenova he’d forgotten that he was dressed for the beach and that rain was wet.</p>
<p>“Okay, okay, fine. I’ll tell you.” Sephiroth took Aerith’s hand, but turned her away from the mansion ahead. “The richest family in Costa del Sol lives there. I had to go to a ball—”</p>
<p>“A ball?!”</p>
<p>“Yes, a ball. It was for work though. Nothing I wanted to do. The Shinra were…they weren’t quite new money, but they weren’t old money either. They wanted to rub elbows with the old aristocratic families of the world. Since money alone doesn’t buy class.”</p>
<p>Aerith gave a little chuckle under her breath.</p>
<p>“The President sent me, Angeal, and Genesis in advance, then came by helicopter with his son and some Turks. I don’t know why they thought a show of force would help them get into the inner circles of high society.”</p>
<p>“Did you guys have to wear tuxedos?”</p>
<p>“Unfortunately.”</p>
<p>“So then what happened? What was the faux pas? Did you use the wrong fork at the dinner table or something?”</p>
<p>“Far worse than that. The only daughter of the family wanted to dance with me. I said no. She didn’t take rejection very well.”</p>
<p>“And so the elite of Costa del Sol came to hate you.” Aerith laughed for a good minute. “You just can’t make stuff like that up, can you?”</p>
<p>“…No, I guess you can’t. Listen, Aerith, I was gonna wait till we got back to Nibelheim to say this, but…I think we should sell the mansion. Then we could move wherever you wanted to go. I’m sure you could start a new flower shop anywhere and be just as successful.”</p>
<p>“Really?! Do you mean it Seph?!”</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>“Oh my god! This is wonderful! I was hoping you’d—well, I mean…”</p>
<p>“It’s okay, you don’t have to keep pretending you like it there. I know you were putting up with the place for my sake.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, Seph. But…thank you.” She stopped to give him a kiss on the lips.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Aerith woke up in a plush king size bed slightly buzzed and fully stuffed. Sephiroth was asleep beside her. She sat up to get a better look at him, wondering when he’d decided to part with the house he’d put so much energy into, the only place on the planet he felt he could claim as his own legitimately. It felt too much like the equivalent of buying a humongous diamond ring to get out of the dog house. What was he feeling guilty about?</p>
<p>The daughter of that rich family… Was denying her a dance really the only thing Sephiroth had done? He had still been sane back then, when his friends were alive, so she didn’t think he killed her or anything like that. But maybe he did break her heart, or she broke his. The thought intrigued Aerith. He could do things that surely he hadn’t become proficient in by reading about them alone.</p>
<p>But how could she pry? He had never asked her about Zack, and Zack had been his friend, too. Surely Sephiroth knew they had been a couple. He was either too much of a gentleman to ask, or he didn’t want to think about that.</p>
<p>No, she decided, she wouldn’t ask him about the ball or that mansion or the people in it again. Let the past stay in the past. It was time to move forward into something new.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Nibelheim seemed far colder than it actually was after their two-week stay in the perennial summer of Costa del Sol. Aerith and Sephiroth walked through the shoveled paths in the village, but were surprised to find the path from the gates of the manor all the way to the front door had likewise been cleared of snow. Sephiroth wondered if someone from the WRO had taken the trouble. Highwind had called him around midnight three days prior to say “Mission accomplished,” and he had assumed everyone had left the manor then.</p>
<p>“The lights are on inside… Did you get someone to house-sit, Seph?”</p>
<p>“No,” Sephiroth said as he noticed the warm light streaming out from the panes of glass at the entryway. “Maybe I should go in first.” He fished his keys from his coat pocket and went to unlock the front door.</p>
<p>There were candles in the old chandelier and wall sconces, casting warm light everywhere. Electric lights from the side rooms spilled into the foyer.</p>
<p>“It smells like…burnt cinnamon toast?” Aerith guessed as she stepped inside and took in the scene. Quetzalcoatl and Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli followed, then went ahead. A shriek came from the kitchen not long after.</p>
<p>Sephiroth and Aerith ran there to find Quetzalcoatl hovering over Lucrecia, who was cowering on the floor with her hands up. Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli was behind her, hissing with his back arched, tail floofed, and fangs bared.</p>
<p>“I mean no harm, I swear!”</p>
<p>“Mom?!”</p>
<p>“‘Mom’?” The serpent repeated, looking as confused as a snake could look, but he backed off nonetheless as Sephiroth stepped forward to help her up. The cat walked away as well, but not without giving Lucrecia one last dirty look.</p>
<p>“What are you doing here?”</p>
<p>“I wanted to surprise you. Vincent told me… Well, Cid told Vincent, then Vincent told me, that you two were going on vacation. So I wanted to come and have a warm meal ready for you when you got back…”</p>
<p>Aerith and Sephiroth turned to look at the kitchen counter, where they indeed found a plateful of burnt toast. Both tried to hide their surprise out of politeness, but Lucrecia could tell what they were thinking.</p>
<p>“I’m a scientist, not a chef,” she said sheepishly.</p>
<p>“Must run in the family,” Aerith quipped. “I’m Aerith, by the way. Nice to meet you.”</p>
<p>“Oh! Aerith! It’s so nice to meet you! I’ve heard so much about you!” Lucrecia stepped forward to hug Aerith, who wasn’t sure what to do at first, but returned the gesture eventually. “Thank you for taking such good care of my son.”</p>
<p>“Mom…!” Sephiroth cringed.</p>
<p>“Oh, what a heart-warming family reunion,” a man’s voice said from behind them. Chills ran down Sephiroth’s spine as he turned to face it.</p>
<p>“Genesis?!”</p>
<p>“‘Pretty boys, with their sunshine faces, carrying their head down,’” the auburn-haired man intoned grandly with a sweeping gesture.</p>
<p>“<em>Loveless</em>… Act Five?”</p>
<p>“Track two,” Genesis put his hand down with a self-satisfied grin. “I’ve learned a lot traveling the world these past few years.”</p>
<p>“Yes,” Lucrecia piped up, “It was Genesis who helped me get here.”</p>
<p>“Wha… How? When?” Sephiroth didn’t know where to start.</p>
<p>“I popped out of a mako fountain in your mother’s cave the other day,” Genesis carefully flicked his bangs from his eyes with an aggravating deliberateness.</p>
<p>“I am so confused…” Aerith looked between the two former SOLDIERs, the former scientist, and the two supernatural animals watching the scene through narrowed eyes from as far back as they could get in the tiny, cramped, outdated kitchen.</p>
<p>“Hey Gen,” Sephiroth looked into his old friend’s eyes with great resolve, “Now that you’re here, would you happen to be in the market for a house?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The track Genesis quotes is "Loomer," track two from My Bloody Valentine's seminal album <em>Loveless</em>, which the original poster in Midgar in OG FFVII referenced. "To Here Knows When" is track four.</p>
<p>Thank you, Readers, for your likes on WordPress, kudos on Ao3, and comments on Discord. A final thank you to KyuubiPandoraChan for overseeing the Weekly Challenge.</p>
<p>This was my first text-only fanfic. I had fun writing it, but not gonna lie...I think a great deal of this was actually influenced by reading AeriSeph fics that could make me believe in the ship. When it came to writing it myself, I realized I couldn't make myself believe it as easily. Aerith is the most likely candidate for a het romantic partner for Seph out of the current canon cast, but given that I don't subscribe to the idea that Jenova controlled Seph in the slightest—primarily because to me, the sheer strength of Sephiroth's will is one of the things that appeals to me about him; and I believe what the Ultimanias say, and they've been clear on this point—it is harder for me to suspend disbelief when I'm the one doing the writing. Oh well. It was a fun ride while it lasted, and if anyone besides myself got some amusement out of it, I'm glad.</p>
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